Of course, just because the calendar changes, that doesn’t mean the issues, ideas, and economic trends of the previous year suddenly “go away” either. Foremost among those, and something we report on often in this space, are breaches, “hacks,” and the latest frontier of data security — an area that seems like it will only get more “parlous” for those trying to safeguard sensitive,personal data, whether their own, their customers’, or both.

Indeed, along with the other “Ten Best” lists one sees ‘round this time for films, books, music, news events, etc., Wired has published its own list of Biggest Hacks of 2016. On it were many of the things we’ve reported on here: The Yahoo data breach, the NSA hack and more.

Unfortunately, it’s likely that events on the data security front will match — or surpass — those in 2016, and not in a good way.

This year, AVP Solutions has made the decision to add new security features to our services which we’ll be calling “SmartIDentity for Business” or “SID4B” (or sometimes, just “SID,” here on the blog!)

This feature will be available to all AVP merchants who want it, and the package of benefits will provide the tools you need to better protect your business and your employees. Among the many security services offered will be Business Internet Credential Monitoring with email and SMS text alerts, and “real-time” Flash alerts for immediate and emerging cyber threats.

Another valuable benefit is the 3 Generation Employee Restoration and Recovery Program, and Fully-Managed Identity Recovery, which protects your employees and their qualifying family members from identity theft, as well!

This means that if an employee or one of their qualifying family members become a victim or even suspect identity theft, a professional and certified Recovery Advocate will manage the logistics of restoration, and resolve the issues on their behalf, no matter how long it takes. This is not a “do-it-yourself” kit, but rather professional help from “SID” and AVPS!

And should a breach actually occur at your place of business, those additional protections and benefits include:

Benefits include Services for up to two (2) Data Breach events per 12 month period

Initial assessment to determine compliance and notification requirements based on the circumstances of the event

Recommended response plan including timeline and notice content

Fully Managed Identity Fraud Research, Remediation and Recovery services for a group of up to 5,000 Affected Consumer per Data Breach event

SID4B is a new layer of protection that for many businesses would cost thousands of additional dollars, but beginning this spring, “SID” will be added to our own core services, for a nominal additional fee.

We’re happy to “wade into the fray” and provide these ultimate safeguards to your company.

We’ll be rolling out more details about the program in the weeks ahead, but in the meantime, feel free to contact your AVPS Rep for more information, and to get ready for “SID’s” arrival! (Ahead of the next batch of “Year in Data Breach” headlines!)